It’s America!
It’s the 1830’s!
You know what that means! Andrew “This land is my land” Jackson is evicting Indians.
I forgot the intro on the last one so here it is twice.
This time it’s the Seminole tribe!
God knows what he wants to do with that land considering Florida in the 1830’s looked
like this, but there was destiny to be manifested and nobody does it like Andy.
The Seminoles politely responded no.
With guns!
Lots of guns.
And then the Second Seminole War happens, it was a whole thing, super interesting(!)
but kind of a tangent, which is why I’ve partnered with History House Productions who
can give you the whole story replete with fine art and comedy gold.
This brings us to our hero John Horse, son of Charley Horse*.
He’s been working as a translator for chief Osceola, who was leading the fight against
the US and had even managed to nix a congressman.
And despite the overwhelming odds, the war was leaning in favor of the home team.
American general Thomas Jesup raises a white flag and calls for a truce.
He and the Seminole chiefs get together and worked out a peace that lasted for about zero
seconds because Jesup had them all arrested and sent to maximum security prison.
With their leaders in prison, things are not looking up for the Seminole.
Thus, John and his fellow prisoner Coacoochee hatch a plan.
The story goes, they fasted for days, and on the night of the new moon, they took ropes
made from the bags given to them as blankets, hoisted each other up to the window, pried
apart the rusted bars, and made their descent along with twenty others.
The exact series of events is a little fuzzy, but the point is they escaped and it was probably
pretty cool.
Their escape spurred on the Seminoles, who managed a few more victories, but were being
slowly herded down the peninsula until they find themselves deep in the wetlands.
John and friends sue for peace with Jesup, this time on their own initiative, and Jesup’s
pretty cool with it since they’ll have nowhere else to run the next time they get evicted,
but he needs the okay from Washington.
[Letter from Washington: No.]
“Hey guys, I got a letter from Washington, why don’t all the chiefs and I talk this
over?”
Naturally, the Seminoles leg it.
Unfortunately, they really can’t go much further South.
When the cards are down, Jesup maintains the offer of land in Oklahoma and guarantees that
the Black Seminoles, such as John, will be guaranteed their freedom.
So John takes the deal, and soon enough the US gets him to convince Coacoochee to lay
down his arms and with that they say goodbye to their home for good.
But at least ol’ Johnny has some land for him and his family and surprise, surprise
the problems don’t stop in Oklahoma.
Quick backstory, John was technically born as a slave to his father, since his mother
was a slave.
But slavery among Seminoles was more like being a medieval serf - not fun, but not like
chattel slavery.
Problem is, in Oklahoma, the Seminoles were lumped in with the Creek, who did practice
chattel slavery.
I.e. there were a whole bunch of Creek slavers running around kidnapping black Seminoles
and facing zero repercussions.
So John and Coacoochee travel all the way to Washington DC to say “Look, the Seminole
are comprised of a band of Creek people, but they split off a hundred years ago - can we
please be on different land and not have our friends get kidnapped?”
“Denied.”
But they weren’t giving up yet.
There was still one person left who could confirm they’d been denied what they were
promised.
Someone a white audience just might listen to.
“So um… you want dinner?”
“Gentlemen, as you may know, I once betrayed the trust of these people for what I felt
was necessary and this great nation did rightly hold me in contempt.
Now the war is won and they have returned to us in earnest faith, asking no more than
what we have promised.
What shame would befall every one of us now if we betrayed them once more?”
“Denied!”
On the bright side Jesup’s redemption arc held up and he moved to Oklahoma and began
construction on Fort Gibson, offering the Seminole work and shelter.
John was now working for the US Army under the exact same general that chased him out
of his home in Florida and that was the silver lining.
At least until a new order came from Washington.
Because now the attorney general decides “Wait a second!
If their parents were slaves... we can’t let Jesup deprive these children’s parent’s
former owners of their rightful property just because he promised them freedom!”.
John’s kicked out of the fort, surrounded by Creek slavers and even some Seminoles are
coming around to the idea of chattel slavery now that they have to farm for a living.
So he and Coacoochee pack their things and with a hundred other black Seminoles march
for the Southern border.
Across maybe six hundred miles they’re dodging slavers, Texas rangers, possibly the Comanche(?),
there’s all kinds of uncited escapades on Wikipedia too but I can’t confirm any of
them so somebody needs to clean up that page, but at last they cross the Rio Grande and
escape to Mexico unscathed.
There the Mexican government gives them land in exchange for protecting the border against
raiders and invaders and there, at last, they stay.
It wasn’t until a few decades later that Mexican landowners tried to grab up the Seminole’s
land, so Juan Cavallo, now in his 70s, saddled up to ride to Mexico City to get a confirmation
that their land did indeed belong to them.
After a life of hitting and running, he rode off into the sunset and was never heard from
again.
Bit of a quickie this one, hoping it lets me publish on time for once, but there is
much, much more information out there.
Once again I strongly advise you to watch the video on the Seminole Wars at History
House Productions.
Until next time!